Flexible metallic fabric



June 17, 1924. 1,498,236

N. CRANE FLEXIBLE METALLI C FABRI C Original Filed Sept. 25. 1918 Patented June 17, 1924.

umru sr NEXVTON CRANE, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.

FLEXIBLE METALLIC FABRIC.

Application filed September 25, 1918, Serial Ito. 255,638. Renewed November 20, 1923.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NEWTON CRANE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Flexible Metallic Fabrics, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to metallic fabrics having sufficient flexibility in one direction to serve the purposes of power transmission and conveyor belts, and having also sufficient durability and resistance to the effects of abrasion to withstand for long continued periods the effect of more or less constant contact with rough and uneven hard objects or with the ground. The object of the invention is, among other things, to provide a fabric of the character described which combines strength with relatively light weight and is capable of being madeiwholly of rolled or drawn rods or wires; which will be without liability to creep sidewise upon the driving or guiding rolls or drums, or other surfaces with which it may come in contact, orto displace in a similar manner the thing which it may be.

drawings,

Figure 1 1s a plan view of a fragment of the fabric. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same fabric, Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the constituent sections of the fabric detached. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a part of such section showing a modification,

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a fragment of fabric made according to the invention in two or more breadths hinged together, and Fig. 6 is a cross-section of a trough conveyor made of the fabric in three breadths.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The fabric is composed essentially of a series of sections a, 7), 0, etc., in a number as great as may be desired depending upon the length of the entire fabric which is to be made for any special purpose, and hinge rods, pins, or wires m, a, 0,,etc. The sections are all substantially duplicates of one another and are preferably made in the following manner.

Each section is constructed of a single continuous wire, which is coiled at its ends, and at intermediate points, one or more times at each point arounda suitable mandrel so as to form eyes which are located in different alined series Referring to the section here designated as a, the eye formed at one end is designated a. From the eye.

thus formed the wire is extended and similarly coiled or wrapped helically around an axis which is preferably parallel or nearly so to the axis of the coil a, making a second coil or eye a From thelatter eye the wire is extended back to the lineof the coil or eye a, and is again coiled to form a third eye a which is in axial alinement with the first eye a. Thereafter the wire is carried back and forth between the axial lines of the coils or eyes a and a and wrapped or coiled to form successively other eyes a", a, a and so on, of which the eyes or coils a, a a are all alined upon the same axis and the coils or eyes a a a are alined'upon a difierent axiswhich is preferably parallel to the other axis; Those parts'of the wire which pass back and forth across the space between the axes form connecting lengths or stretches 0;. (1 a, a and so forth, which may be aptly designated as tie members, inasmuch as they tie or connect the successively formed eyes to one another. Thus the section OOH? sists of two sets or series of axially alined eyes, of which those in one set or series are. staggered with respect to those 1n the other set or series, and zigzag tie members. Adjacent eyes in the same series are not close together, but are spread apart axially to leave spaces sufficiently wide toadmit similarly formed eyes of the adjacent sections between them, as shown in Fig. 1.

Preferably the eves in the two sets of. one section are not all coiled in the same direction, but in alternately opposite directions; that is to say that the coil a is formed by wrapping the wire from its end in rightband or clockwise rotation, the coil 06 is formed by winding the wire in anticlockwise or left-hand rotation, the coil a by'wind eyes in one set of one of the sections intersections with one another. Therefore when any secspaces between ing in clockwise rotation, the coil 00 in antt clockwise rotation, and so on to the end of the section. This results in the tie members passing alternately over and under the two hinge rods about which they are passed, and the ultimate effect is to eliminate alternate ridges and grooves which in certain circumstances would have an objectionable effect.

This is a feature for which I claim protection, although without restricting my claim exclusively to that feature, for I may construct the sections with all the eyes coiled in the same direction of rotation; as for example, in structures where it may be desired forsome reasons to have all the tie members in the same plane.

The other sections 7), 0, etc, are formed in the same way with coiled eyes and trans verse connecting or tie members which are designatedby the characteristic letter of the section and characteristic exponents applied as in the foregoing description to the parts of the section a. The sections are assembled by placing two of them together with the posed between the eyes of one of the sets of the other section, as the eyes a aha, etc. of the section a betweenthe eyes 6', b 6", etc, of the section Z), and then passing a hinge rod n through all of the eyes thus in terp'osed or interwoven and alin'ed. Successive sections are similarly connected with those already thus joined together, with the result that finally a fabric is produced in which successive adjacent sections are all connected to one another by hinge rods. Either side of any section may be so connected with either side of the adjacent section, from which it follows that the end sections of the fabric may be connected to make an endless belt, and also the several are completely interchangeable tion becomes worn out or broken it may be removed and a new one substituted by first withdrawing; the hinge rods which connect it to the adjacent sections on each side of it and then reinserting the hinge rods in their previous positions after the substitute section has been put in the place of the old one. And the fabric, or the endless belt or apron made from the fabric. may be extended or shortened to any desired extent by adding or remmi'ng a sufficient number of'secti'ons and their hinge pins as described.

This construction provides openings or corresponding eyes of adj acent sections and between the adjacent tie members of each section, which are adapted to admit teeth pins, or other projections on the surface of "driving drums or sprocket "wheels over which the fabric is carried when made as an endless belt or apron, whereby such drums or sprockets may be caused to apply force in a posltive manner without slip to the belt for the purpose of transmitting motion and power. The sections for any particular design of belt made according to this invention are made with the spaces between adjacent alined eyes in each set or series wide enough to admit the driving projections of the particular drum or wheel by which it is intended to be propelled; and the individual eyes are preferably forn'ied by several turns or wraps of the wire in order to provide such width of thesespaces, and also for the purpose of distributing the effect of wear, due to the rubbing contact of the eyes internally upon the hinge pins and externally with whatever driving teeth may be used, over different points. And the turns or coils'of the helix forming each eye may be spread, and the wire bent sidewise at the junctionsbetween the eyes and tie members, if desired,

in order that the spaces between-eyes of one section may be filled by the interposed eyes of the next section, as shown with reference to the eyes a 5 and'd, in Fig. 5. For the purposes of this description the lateral dimension or width of the belt or fabric is the direction in which the hinge rods extend, and the length or longitudinal dimension is in the direction at right angles to such rods and in the same plane with the rods. The number of wraps of the wire forming each eye, whether one, two, three, or more, and the amount and character of distortion, is determined by these considerations and by the width of thewire,having regard to the desirability of preventing side play of adj acent sections. However, so far as the scope of the protection which I here claim is concerned, the eyes may be formed by any number of wraps of the wire.

The term wiretas used in this description and in the following claims includes any rod, filament, band, or other elongated piece, made of metal. of which the length is many times greater than either the width or the thickness; whatever may be the cross-sectional shape of such piece, whether round or flat, or otherwise curved or polygonal in out-. line, or partly curved and partly flat, or whether the thickness is equal or unequal to the width; and whatever may be its specific dimensions: provided only that the piece is sulliciently long and sufficiently flexible to be capable of being bent and coiled into sec tions having the form and other characteristics described in theforcpgoin specification and pointed out in the following claims.

Among the uses which I have had in mind for the fabric here described are that ofa conveyor belt or apron. in which it may be driven either .frictionally by smooth drums, or positively by toothed drums or wheels; that of a power-delivering chain or "belt, in which it preferably would be driven by drums having teeth; and that of a tractor belt for motor vehicles, in which it not only serves as a power-transmission means, but also as the ground support or base of the vehicle or engine for which it is used. But the latter use includes not only traction upon bare ground, but also upon snow covering the ground. It is particularly well adapted for such use by reason of the large number of cross members and the comparatively small width of the spaces between them, and also because of the light weight of the construction, which enables it to support a considerable weight upon soft or swampy ground, and even on light snow without sinking to an objectionable extent. The ratio of surface area of the fabric to its weight may be relatively increased by using flat wire or ribbon stock, of which the width is much greater than the thickness, as the material for making the sections, whereby to increase the ability to support heavy loads upon soft ground surfaces or snow.

Contributing to the efliciency of the fabric for all of these purposes is the construction of the sections already described, in which successive eyes are formed by wrapping the wire in relatively opposite directions, and in which the adjacent tie members, as a a", a, etc., of each section are inclined oppositely to one another. This construction makes both surfaces of the fabric alike in all parts, and particularly eliminates distinct continuous ridges and grooves which will have the effect of tending to crowd the belt sidewise upon the pulleys or the ground, or of displacing articles carried by the fabric when used as a conveyor. In cases, however, where it is desirable that all the tie members of all the sections should be in the same plane, and where the existence of ridges and grooves is not objectionable, or may be of advantage, I may construct the sections with all of the eyes wound in the same direction.

The previous statement of uses is not ex haustive and is not intended to limit the scope of protection which I claim in any way. I do not limit my claim tofabric of any specific "width, or to fabric sections having any specific number of eyes in either line. For example, fabrics may be made havingno greater width than would be made by sections having the number of eyes shown in Fig. 4, that is, twoeyes in one line and one eye in the other. For certain uses also it may be desirable to form one or more eyes in one line of greater diameter than the other eye or eyes in the same line, as I have illustrated for example in Fig. 4; by representing the eye a as of greater diameter than the eye a although in axial alinement therewith. I make this statement in order to explain that the following claim are intended to include in their scope fabrics and the sections of such fabrics having all of these modifications in proportions and diniensions; and to includeas well the combination in. which the hinge rods or equivalent'connecting pintles are of. different dimensions in different parts, and of different character than solid rods. For example, I have designed a modifica-tion of the in vention to serve as a carrier for machine gun ammunition, in which the several sections are constructed substantially as shown in Fig. 4., and the pintles are loaded cartridges; and I intend the protection hereby secured to include forms of the invention applied to this use, as well as to other uses.

I may also, in applying the invention to the uses of a conveyor, make a belt of two or more breadths, as shown. in Figs. 5 and 6, where a conveyor having a central breadth A and side breadths B and C is shown.

Each of these breadths runs lengthwise of the fabric and is made of a fabric essentially such as that hereinbefore described in detail, and the breadths are hinged to one another by suitably interlocking or hinging the pintles of one breadth to the adjacent pintles of the next breadth, either by interlocking joints 72, as shown in Figs 5 and 6, or in any other manner. The lines in which these joints are arranged, as for instance the line of ppp in Fig. 5, are longitudinal lines. In the use of such a conveyor, as shown in Fig. 6, the side breadths are adapted to be turned up with respect to the central breadth so as toform a trough confining loose or granular articles or materials. In case of use to carry powdered or granular material, the conveyor may be covered with cloth or the like to prevent the particles of such material falling through the spaces of the links.

It is to be understood that the present invention concerns only the characteristics of the fabric as a finished article and of the sections thereof, and that my claim to pro tection is directed to such fabric and its sections without restriction to the steps and process employed in their manufacture. That is, any completed article having the characteristics defined in the claims is intended to be protected thereby, by whatever means or in whatever manner it may have been made.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A metallic fabric particularly adapted for tractor belt purposes consisting of flat wire or ribbon stock bent and coiled to form sections each consisting of two sets of alined spaced-apart eyes in staggered relation to one another, and hinge pins passing through the eyes of each set, the eyes of one set in each section being interposed between the eyes of another section and engaged with the same hinge pin; the fiat form of the wire or ribbon providing an extended hearing surfaceupon the hinge pins and a relatively large area of tread surface in proportion to the Weight of the fabric.

'2. flexible metallic fabric consisting of parallel hinge pins, Wire sections passing 5 across from one pin to the next and coiled around both, forming a continuous belt, two such fabrics being arranged in parallel and hinged together by their respective hinge pins, said pins having end eyes and the eye of each pin of one fabric being hooked into 10 the contiguous eye of the adjacent pin of the other fabric. 1

'In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

NEWTON CRANE. 

